Here's today's rundown on the Congressional races: The Wall St. bailout is dominating the discussion in the down-ticket races, with many Republicans taking political damage from the bad economic news.

Bailout Could Sink McConnell
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that the political fallout over the Wall St. bailout is damaging the political standing of Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, due in part to his fellow GOP Senator Jim Bunning undercutting McConnell's support with his own outspoken opposition. On top of that, the new Mason-Dixon poll has McConnell with a bare 45%-44% lead over Dem businessman Bruce Lunsford, and SurveyUSA has it as a 49%-46% lead.

Coleman Ad: Don't "Play The Blame Game" On Bailout
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) has this new ad out reassuring voters on the Wall St. bailout, asking voters not to assess blame to anybody for the mess:

"We can point fingers, play the blame game, or pull together, restore confidence, and turn this country around," Coleman said. One is reminded of what Jon Stewart said after Katrina: Those people who say we shouldn't play the blame game are usually the people we should blame.

GOP Sen. Smith: Don't Say I'm For The Bailout
In a sign of just how much of a political pitfall the Wall St. bailout is, Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) is objecting vocally to an attack ad from Democrat Jeff Merkley that accused him of supporting it. "Mr. Merkley has decided to prejudge the outcome and say I am for a $1 trillion bailout for Wall Street," said Smith. "I am not."

Report: Elizabeth Dole Barely Lives In North Carolina Carolina
The Winston Salem-Journal has a tough piece on Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), who is in an unexpectedly tough race for re-election this year. It turns out she only spent 20 days in her home state in 2005, 13 days in 2006, and then increased her scheduled to 50 days in 2007 and about double that this year for her re-election campaign.

Barney Frank Calls Out Bachmann
House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) is wading into the re-election campaign of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), with a new guest column in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune criticizing Bachmann for blaming the Wall St. crisis on loans to the poor and the Clinton Administration. "The truth is that the Republicans failed in every year of their 12-year hold on Congress to create a strong, independent regulator to oversee Fannie and Freddie," Frank says, going on to detail the various factual inaccuracies in Bachmann's statements.

Franken Ad: "Norm Coleman Should Be Ashamed" Of Ad About Rape
Al Franken has this new ad up responding to an NRSC ad that attacked for writing "about committing rape," an attack that originated from a story about a Saturday Night Live writing session and a joke that didn't make it to the air:

The ad quotes a female Dem state legislator: "Bringing rape ads into our living rooms to smear Al Franken is a disgrace."